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Showing posts from March, 2008

How To Make Mozzarella

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Mozzarella is a relatively difficult cheese to make. If you are attempting to make cheese for the first time, it is advised that you try your hands at cottage or feta cheese first. Original Mozzarella is made with water buffalo milk, but because such milk isn't always available the most common substitute is cow milk, although many use goat milk Ingredients: Fresh Milk (1 gallon - Water Buffalo preferred, but goat or cow milk will also do) Fresh Plain Yogurt (3 Tablespoons) Fresh Cultured Buttermilk (3 Tablespoons) Rennet (1 tablet) Salt Stainless Steel Pot (enough to hold 1.5 gallons) Thermometer Whisk Long Knife Colander Spoon (with slots) Glass Baking Pan Instructions: Head the milk until the temperature reaches 32C in pot Dissolve Rennet in 1/4 cup of water Mix Yogurt and Buttermilk with a small amount of milk. Blend in Yogurt-Buttermilk-Milk mix into pot Blend in Rennet-Water mix and mix thoroughly and let sit about 45 minutes Use the knife to cut the curd into 1/2 inch cubes ...
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Amusing Restaurant Names

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Someone actually took the time to compile a pretty extensive list of crazy restaurant names broken down by cuisine type. Enjoy! Dew Drop Inn and Lettuce Entertain You: Onomastic Sobriquets in the Food and Beverage Industry COFFEE HOUSES, ESPRESSO BARS and PASTRY SHOPS Aroma Borealis, Alberta, Edmonton, CN Brew Ha Ha, Phoenix, AZ Brewed Awakenings (chain) Bump and Grind Café (American chain and also one with the same name in Sydney, Australia) Common Grounds, Syracuse, NY Cup-A-Cabana, Corvallis, OR The Daily Grind, Oceanside, NY and Seattle, WA The Daily Grind Coffee House and Bakery, Cullman, AL The Daily Grind Cyber Café, Oak Park, IL Espresso Yourself, Juneau, AK Full of Beans (defunct) Mystic, CN Gotta Hava Java, Saskatoon, CN (chain) Grounds for Divorce, Santa Barbara, CA Happy Endings, Syracuse, NY Higher Grounds, (chain) Hot Shotz, Washington, D.C. In the Black, NY, NY Jolt N Bolt Coffee & Tea House, Washington, DC Just Desserts, (5 in the San Francisco Bay area of Californ...
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The World's Best Saffron Coming To Costco In May

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Starting in May, you'll be able to buy the world’s best saffron from Spain's Castilla La Mancha region at your local Costco. Just one question remains: How long will it take to use up a Costco size pack of saffron? The world's best saffron — at Costco? When I got home I spoke with Costco buyer Gary Kotzen. "We're really excited about this," he said, incredulous that I had been in one of the very fields where Costco's "next big thing" was being harvested. But I was equally incredulous. How could this truly artisanal specialty food find its way into my local warehouse store? "We want the best of the best, and we want to offer it to our members without them having to pay the premium," Kotzen said. "We'll bring it in, package it ourselves and offer it to our members at about one third or even one fifth of the cost of similar saffron . . . We did the same thing in 1997 with Tuscan olive oil." By mid-April, or perhaps early May,...
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Kirkland Beer: Costco To Sell Its Own Beer

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I hope it comes in a 250 pack! Costco looking at selling own line of beer Costco Wholesale Corp. has applied to sell its own brand of beer, according to Bloomberg News. The Kirkland Signature label applications for pale ale, amber ale, hefeweizen and a lager were approved last week by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Bloomberg reported Costco already offers Kirkland Signature wines and is one of the top sellers of wine in the U.S. Costco to Become a New Name in Battle of the Brews The big brewers have fretted that decades of copycat, chucklehead advertising has reduced their biggest-selling brands to indistinguishable commodities in the eyes of many consumers. Now they may be reaping what they've sown: Costco, one of the nation's largest warehouse retailers, is readying its first line of private-label beers. One analyst said said the rollout of Kirkland Signature Hefeweizen is most likely to hurt sub-premium brands. The retailer has filed label applications with th...
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Pictures Made With Food

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Incredibly, everything you see in these images can be found in the kitchen. Photographer Carl Warner has meticulously captured all kinds of food in a series of still life photos.
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Guinness Stout Brownies: Perfect Recipe For St. Patrick's Day

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The original version of these brownies was developed in Ireland. The malt in the Guinness stout beer intensifies the flavor of the chocolate in these delicious brownies. The texture is an interesting combination of fudge, mousse, candy, and traditional brownies. Although decadently chocolate, they are surprisingly light due to the eggs. You won't taste the beer at all. Great for St. Patrick's Day or any day. INGREDIENTS: 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter, cut into cubes 8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped 3/4 cup white chocolate chips 4 large eggs, at room temperature 1 cup superfine or granulated sugar 1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout beer (see Note below) 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/8 cup (about) confectioners' sugar for dusting PREPARATION: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In a medium bowl, whisk together f...
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Picture Of The Day: How To Cook Everything

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How to cook everything including the baby!
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Fortune Cookies Originally From Japan

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Just when you thought everything was made in China! Jennifer 8. Lee of The New York Times wrote an interesting article on the origins of the fortune cookie recently. It details research that suggests the fortune cookie is Japanese, not a Chinese, invention. Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. But the crisp cookies wrapped around enigmatic sayings have spread around the world. They are served in Chinese restaurants in Britain, Mexico, Italy, France and elsewhere. In India, they taste more like butter cookies. A surprisingly high number of winning tickets in Brazil's national lottery in 2004 were traced to lucky numbers from fortune cookies distributed by a Chinese restaurant chain called Chinatown. But there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent: China. Now a researcher in Japan believes she can explain the disconnect, which has long perplexed American tourist...
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Beer: Drink to Your Health

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This news comes just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. What timing! "May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead." -Old Irish Toast Raise a Glass! Downing a few beers on St. Patrick’s Day may give you more than the luck of the Irish and a hangover. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine say Guinness stout has more heart-healthy flavonoids and triggers more anti-clotting activity than light-colored beer. And beer hops contain xanthohumol, a flavonoid that may help ward off some cancers, say Oregon State University researchers. Hops may also fight hot flashes and osteoporosis. But you’d have to drink a whole keg to get enough of the flavonoid to make a difference—and we don’t recommend that! Luckily, there may soon be a “health beer” with enhanced concentrations. For now, porter, stout and ales have the highest levels. So raise a toast to the hearty ho...
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Food Network Cooking Up New Magazine

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Hearst Cooking Up Magazine for Food Network What's in the oven at Hearst? In recent weeks, the magazine giant has been staffing up for a secret development project, picking off editors from the Reader's Digest-owned Every Day with Rachael Ray . But for what? According to a well-placed source, the project in question is a new food magazine to be published in partnership with the Food Network. Like previous TV-to-print adaptations Hearst has housed -- ESPN The Magazine , O, The Oprah Magazine and the ill-fated Lifetime -- the title would carry the Food Network's brand and be published as a joint venture, in this case between Hearst and Scripps, which owns the channel. Asked about that, a Hearst spokeswoman said, "I can tell you that we are at a very early development stage on a concept in consultation with The Food Network. Any speculation about specifics at this point would be premature." Will this one be a hit like O or a bust like Lifetime ? The source, notin...
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Forget The Turducken: Meet The Monster Roast

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Chef Phillip Corrick samples the monster roast The Monster Roast is a turkey stuffed with 12 different birds, that costs more than $1,000 and serves 125 people. As Alton Brown would say, "Now that's good eats". It serves 125, takes eight hours to cook and is stuffed with 12 different birds ... now that really IS a Christmas dinner For decades, a few simple slices of turkey were all it needed. But now even the traditional Christmas dinner has been supersized. Multi-bird roasts, where different types of bird are stuffed inside a larger one, have become the thing to carve this year - and the more birds involved the better. One of the top-sellers is the Waitrose four-bird roast: guinea fowl, duck and turkey breast stuffed inside a goose. Demand has soared 50 per cent this year - even though each roast costs an eyewatering £200. The surge in popularity may have something to do with TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's creation of a ten-bird roast on his show two years ag...
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Bacon-Flavored Vodka: Drink Of The Gods

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It doesn't get any better than this. Here is our recipe of the day. Bacon-flavored Vodka Bacon Vodka Makes up one pint Fry up three strips of bacon Add cooked bacon to a clean pint sized mason jar. Trim the ends of the bacon if they are too tall to fit in the jar. Or you could go hog wild and just pile in a bunch of fried up bacon scraps. Optional: add crushed black peppercorns. Fill the jar up with vodka. Cap and place in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks.(No need to refrigerate) At the end of the three week resting period, place the bacon vodka in the freezer to solidify the fats. Strain out the fats through a coffee filter to yield a clear filtered pale yellow bacon vodka. Decant into decorative bottles and enjoy.
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Mario Batali Talks About Being A Celebrity Chef

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Mario Batali talks about being a Celebrity Chef and in the process shows us what a good television personality he really is. Batali gives celebrity view on celebrity "It's like this," Mario Batali said, sitting in his Eighth Street restaurant and talking about being famous. "I'm happy to sign autographs and do all of that, but there are times when I'm just trying to eat breakfast with my kids and the person I ask to wait for an autograph calls me an asshole. I'm not going to go off, though, like some celebrities, and punch a paparazzo or anything." But that's the beauty of New York, he said. "Even if 8 million people hate you, there's still 9 million people left, and a lot of them will still come to your restaurant." The Food Network alumnus - famous for his show "Molto Mario" - talked to GSP sophomores from professor Elayne Tobin's course, "Celebrity: A Cultural and Historical Exploration of Modern Fame." Th...
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Mario Batali: "I Am A Fashion Disaster"

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What's My Logo?: Mario Batali Dishes On His Signature Shorts And Orange Crocs: "I Am A Fashion Disaster" Chef Mario Batali started a culinary empire in 1998 with his Greenwich Village restaurant Babbo. He is the chef/owner of six celebrated restaurants in New York City, author of numerous cookbooks, and host of the upcoming PBS gastro-tour Spain...On The Road Again, co-hosted with Gwyneth Paltrow. Most recently Batali launched Carnevino in Las Vegas, but no matter where he hangs his hat, he always wears his signature orange shoes and shorts (even in the dead of winter). Batali, who was recently refused entry to a fellow chef's hip downtown birthday party due to his casual duds, dished on his quirky style: You are almost as famous for your orange shoes and perennial shorts as for your acclaimed cuisine and restaurants. How did your look start? 10 years ago my wife gave me the shoes and the kids wear orange all of the time because it's such a happy color. The first ...
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Robert Irvine Fired From the Food Network

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Robert Irvine, host of the show "Dinner Impossible", has been fired by Food Network. Why? He made false claims on his resume . His next assignment: "Employment Impossible". Food Network Cans "Impossible" Chef "Dinner: Impossible" chef Robert Irvine has been fired from the Food Network's kitchen! After it was discovered that Robert lied about his credentials -- including having designed Princess Diana's wedding cake -- Food Network honchos investigated the situation and today released a statement saying they "have not renewed Robert's contract for future seasons" and "will be looking for a replacement host." Robert apologized for his actions adding, "I was wrong to exaggerate in statements related to my experiences regarding the Royal Family."
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Popular posts from this blog

The Hollow Earth: The Greatest Geographical Discovery In History Made By Admiral Richard E. Byrd

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The Hollow Earth: The Greatest Geographical Discovery in History Made by Admiral Richard E. Byrd in the Mysterious Land Beyond the Poles - The True Origin of the Flying Saucers   Widely read and reprinted many times, Raymond Bernard’s book is considered by many to be the definitive treatise on the "Hollow Earth" theory. The book purports that the Earth has a hollow and habitable interior, with a small sun in place of a molten core, and is inhabited by a race of “Superhumans” who are the descendants of the exiled residents of the long lost continents of Atlantis and Lemuria. Bernard claimed that the true North and South poles had not yet been discovered, and that in their place are concave openings to the inner Earth. Bernard quotes several diary entries and radio announcements by polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd as being definitive proof for his theory that travel to the Earth’s interior was possible. Bernard claims that Byrd’s 1947 and 1956 expeditions took him “bey...
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In 2013 Obama Legalized The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public

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  In case you are wondering why there is so much " Fake News " coming out of the Mainstream Media over the last few years: The (2012) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) legalized the use of propaganda on the US public. On January 2, 2013 Barack Obama signed and enacted into “law” HR 4310 , also known as Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which was part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) . A large majority of concerned Americans were focused on the  indefinite detention of US Citizens without trial clause contained in the NDAA , and missed HR 4310 which received little to no attention. From Business Insider : The NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public The newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public , reports Michael Hastings of BuzzFeed . The amendment — proposed by Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and passe...
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The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat

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How to determine steak tenderness just by using your hand. There are two basic methods to test for how done your meat is while you are cooking it—use a meat thermometer, or press on the meat with your fingertips. The problem with the meat thermometer approach is that when you poke a hole into the meat with a thermometer, it can let juices escape, juices that you would rather have stay in the meat. For this reason, most experienced cooks rely on a “finger test” method, especially on steaks (whole roasts are better tested with a thermometer). My mother has been trying to get me to test meat with my fingertips for years, and for years, being somewhat of a scaredy cat (won’t it burn my fingers?) I ignored, avoided, ran away from the idea. Then my friend David showed me up. Here’s a guy who loves to grill but doesn’t know how to boil water. (Really. Cannot boil water. Just ask him, he’s proud of the fact.) David taught me how to test for the doneness of meat using this method and thes...
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